Muon spin rotation study of the topological superconductor SrxBi2Se3

We report transverse-field (TF) muon spin rotation experiments on single crystals of the topological superconductor Sr$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$ with nominal concentrations $x=0.15$ and $0.18$ ($T_c \sim 3$ K). The TF spectra ($B= 10$ mT), measured after cooling to below $T_c$ in field, did not show any additional damping of the muon precession signal due to the flux line lattice within the experimental uncertainty. This puts a lower bound on the magnetic penetration depth $\lambda \geq 2.3 ~\mu$m. However, when we induce disorder in the vortex lattice by changing the magnetic field below $T_c$ a sizeable damping rate is obtained for $T \rightarrow 0$. The data provide microscopic evidence for a superconducting volume fraction of $\sim 70~ \%$ in the $x=0.18$ crystal and thus bulk superconductivity.Comment: 6 pages, includes 4 figure

Extended Magnetic Dome Induced by Low Pressures in Superconducting FeSe1-x_\mathrm{1\text{-}x}Sx_\mathrm{x}

We report muon spin rotation ($\mu$SR) and magnetization measurements under pressure on Fe$_{1+\delta}$Se$_\mathrm{1\text{-}x}$S$_\mathrm{x}$ with x $\approx 0.11$.Above $p\approx0.6$ GPa we find microscopic coexistence of superconductivity with an extended dome of long range magnetic order that spans a pressure range between previously reported separated magnetic phases. The magnetism initially competes on an atomic scale with the coexisting superconductivity leading to a local maximum and minimum of the superconducting $T_\mathrm{c}(p)$. The maximum of $T_\mathrm{c}$ corresponds to the onset of magnetism while the minimum coincides with the pressure of strongest competition. A shift of the maximum of $T_\mathrm{c}(p)$ for a series of single crystals with x up to 0.14 roughly extrapolates to a putative magnetic and superconducting state at ambient pressure for x $\geq0.2$.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, including supplemental materia

Magnetic and electronic ordering phenomena in the Ru2O6 layer honeycomb lattice compound AgRuO3

The silver ruthenium oxide AgRuO3 consists of honeycomb Ru5 2O 6 layers and can be considered an analogue of SrRu2O6 with a different intercalation. We present measurements of magnetic susceptibility and specific heat on AgRuO3 single crystals, which reveal a sharp antiferromagnetic transition at 342 3 K. The electrical transport in single crystals of AgRuO3 is determined by a combination of activated conduction over an intrinsic semiconducting gap of almost equal to 100 meV and carriers trapped and thermally released from defects. From powder neutron diffraction data a N el type antiferromagnetic structure with the Ru moments along the c axis is derived. Raman spectroscopy on AgRuO3 single crystals and muon spin rotation spectroscopy on powder samples indicate a further weak phase transition or a crossover in the temperature range 125 200 K. The transition does not show up in the magnetic susceptibility, and its origin is argued to be related to defects but cannot be fully clarified. The experimental findings are complemented by density functional theory based electronic structure calculations. It is found that the magnetism in AgRuO3 is similar to that in SrRu2O6, however, with stronger intralayer and weaker interlayer magnetic exchange interaction

Analysis of test beam data taken with a prototype of TPC with resistive Micromegas for the T2K Near Detector upgrade

In this paper we describe the performance of a prototype of the High Angle Time Projection Chambers (HA-TPCs) that are being produced for the Near Detector (ND280) upgrade of the T2K experiment. The two HA-TPCs of ND280 will be instrumented with eight Encapsulated Resistive Anode Micromegas (ERAM) on each endplate, thus constituting in total 32 ERAMs. This innovative technique allows the detection of the charge emitted by ionization electrons over several pads, improving the determination of the track position. The TPC prototype has been equipped with the first ERAM module produced for T2K and with the HA-TPC readout electronics chain and it has been exposed to the DESY Test Beam in order to measure spatial and dE/dx resolution. In this paper we characterize the performances of the ERAM and, for the first time, we compare them with a newly developed simulation of the detector response. Spatial resolution better than 800 ${\mu \rm m}$ and dE/dx resolution better than 10% are observed for all the incident angles and for all the drift distances of interest. All the main features of the data are correctly reproduced by the simulation and these performances fully fulfill the requirements for the HA-TPCs of T2K